


Velvet AU Snippets

by OugiOshino



Series: Welcome to the Velvet Room Extended Universe [2]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Ann POV, Character Death, In Chapter 10, It's Akechi, Male-Female Friendship, Multi, Souji and Yosuke are Akira and Ren's parents, Spoilers for Welcome to the Velvet Room, Sumire is the Black Mask, The Velvet Room (Persona Series), Velvet AU canon, Velvet Room Attendant Akechi Goro, and believe me the timeline has been severely adjusted, anngoro friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:55:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 3,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28973946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OugiOshino/pseuds/OugiOshino
Summary: Scenes from an AU that I'm working on where Akechi is the Velvet Room Attendant. I'll try not to give away too much because it's a pretty complicated AU, but here are some scenes that I'm working on. Called the Velvet AU, but the official name for the fic so far is Welcome to the Velvet Room
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Caroline, Akechi Goro & Justine, Akechi Goro & Takamaki Ann, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Caroline & Kurusu Akira, Hanamura Yosuke/Seta Souji, Kurusu Akira & Justine, Kurusu Akira & Seta Souji, Kurusu Akira & Takamaki Ann
Series: Welcome to the Velvet Room Extended Universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2212386
Kudos: 41
Collections: Velvet AU





	1. Big Bang Burger Outing

**Author's Note:**

> Hahahah welcome, Velvet AU Akechi plagues my brain now, so you're getting this. Please enjoy! The actual fic should come out sometime soon

“Are you really going to eat all that by yourself Kurusu-san? It doesn’t look… healthy…” Goro stared at the towering burger in front of him. He poked at it gently and it began to sway, almost falling over. Akira smirked and Morgana looked at him suspiciously.

“What? You’re saying that I shouldn’t?” Goro’s gaze shot up from the burger, glaring at Akira. He sighed, running his fingers over the spine of Le Grimoire nervously.

“I have no right to say this, but… I don’t think you should. That thing looks like it could kill you, or worse.”

“All the more reason to take on this challenge.” Akira smirked again before taking the giant burger into his hands and starting to devour into it. Goro watched in fear, and quite frankly awe, as Akira finished almost half of it before conceding defeat, “okay… you were right… that was a stupid idea.”

“What did I tell you? You needn’t do everything exactly as those two tell you to, you’re going to get yourself killed like that.” Akira groaned, glancing up from where he had his head on the table to glare at Goro.

“I don’t like accepting defeat… you seemed to be egging me on…”

“I was doing nothing of the sort,” Akira groaned again and Goro frowned. Should he escort the inmate home? The trickster seemed to be in a lot of pain, but that would be…

“Look… I do stupid things sometimes,” He stood, clutching his stomach in pain before grabbing the bag that his weird cat was always carried around in and slinging it over his shoulder, “but… I’m happy I got to spend time with you, even if I just humiliated myself.” Goro flushed a pale pink, holding Le Grimoire close to his chest. Forbidden, this kind of relationship was forbidden. Against the rules, as it always had been and always would be.


	2. Shibuya Cinema Outing

Goro stared at the strange poster in front of him, cocking his head in confusion. Why would the twins send them here? What was this odd place?

“Anything in particular you want to see?” Akira came up behind Goro, surprising the attendant and nearly making him drop Le Grimoire on his foot.

“I… uh…” He glanced between Akira and the poster confusedly. What did he mean by ‘see’? “what exactly are we doing here?” Goro felt ashamed asking the question. It seemed to be so simple and yet he couldn’t remember what places like this were used for. Akira started to laugh softly before realizing that Goro was completely serious.

“Ah… you don’t know what a movie theater is. Um… how to explain this…” Akira paused for a moment, considering how to answer Goro’s question, “Aha! It’s a, uh, place where you go to see pieces of the human imagination.”

“Intriguing. Let us go in then.” Akira let out a small gasp of laughter, grabbing Goro’s hand and pulling him along into the ‘movie theater’. His hands were… soft, despite appearances.

“So, how’d you like that Akechi-san?” Goro shivered with fear, that had been one of the worst experiences of his entire life.

“I... ahem… that was  _ wonderful _ inmate.” Liar, he was a fucking liar. He had hated that with every fiber of his being.

“Don’t lie to me…” Akira frowned softly, resting a gentle hand on Goro’s arm as he clutched Le Grimoire tighter to his chest in fear, “you’re shaking like a leaf.” Goro smacked him off, dropping the book purposely on the other boy’s foot.

“You wanna know the truth you asshole?! Fine, I’ll tell you the truth! I hated that! Fuck you!” Akira stared at him in shock and Goro quickly clapped a hand over his mouth, retrieving Le Grimoire from where he had dropped it, “my apologies Kurusu-san, that was out of line.” Akira smiled, cocking his head to the side in that mischievous way of his.

“You’re good, in fact… I rather like it when you show emotion. You’re always so bland all the time, so it reminds me that you’re still a real person.” Goro pulled his book close to his chest as if to remind himself of the rules etched permanently on the pages. He wasn’t allowed, this couldn’t go any further than it already had. They were already pushing the boundaries of the rules, if they went any further… they would be beyond the point of no return.


	3. Protein Lovers Outing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heavily edited from the twin's version, they don't even do anything, just sort of have a short conversation

Goro followed Akira nervously in the gym, his fingers gently tracing the spine of Le Grimoire. Why had the twins sent them to a gym of all places? It didn’t make any sense.

“You okay Akechi-san? You look kind of…” Akira trailed off, having lost the word that he was looking for. He rested a gentle hand on Goro’s shoulder, which the attendant quickly shoved away.

“I’m fine… it’s just… this location, it doesn’t make any sense.” Akira took a step back, glancing around the gym before his eyes rested back on Goro, a questioning expression across his face.

“What makes you say that?” So… he didn’t know. The twins had never told him why. Why he was doing all this, and with Goro.

“I don’t see how this is going to help me recover my memories… look at me, I’m clearly not the type of person who would have gone to a gym like this.” Akira’s eyes widened in surprise and his eyes filled with a sort of pity for Goro.

“… I didn’t know… I didn’t even know that you…”

“It’s fine inmate. Other than the other velvet room attendants and Igor, you would be the first person I’ve told. There was no way you could have known.” Akira grabbed Goro’s hand, gently squeezing it in reassurance.

“And now I do, I promise you Akechi, I’ll do anything and everything I can to help you remember.” That wasn’t pity in his eyes… was it? That emotion… Goro couldn’t remember what it was called, but it felt… tender in a way.


	4. "Why choose me?"

“I’m sure you have all sorts of adoring fans falling at your feet, why would you choose someone like me?” Akira watched as Goro sank to his knees in front of his cell, clutching his book close to his chest in way that he always did when he was upset.

“I don’t want any of them, I want you,” Akira reached a hand through the bars, resting on Goro’s cheek and other boy glanced at him in shock. Akira smiled gently at him, brushing some stray hairs off of Goro’s face, “you, the kind, funny man that I’ve come to know.” Tears started to gently pour down the attendant’s cheeks as he let out a small sob.

“How do you know that’s who I really am? I don’t even know!” Sobs racked his body as he clutched his book even close to his chest, his tears dripping down to stain the tops of the velvet pages.

“I don’t have to know who you really are, who you were, all that matters is who you are now. That’s that you that I fell in love with.” Goro’s sobs stopped abruptly and he stood quickly, turning his back to Akira.

“Don’t say that… we can’t… it’s against the rules.” He stood in that same stoic manner that he always did, but his hands trembled on his book. Akira sighed, clearly Goro had to want this as much as he did; why was he so stubbornly following those stupid rules? Rules were meant to be broken after all.


	5. "Love?"

“Just being around you makes me want to tear my hair out… in a good way?” Goro cocked his head in confusion as he paused, his fingers nervously running up and down the spine of Le Grimoire, “I don’t know what this feeling is Kurusu.” Akira smirked mischievously, leaning against the wall of his cell.

“Sure sounds like love to me.” Goro flushed, nearly dropping Le Grimoire on his foot.

“Love?” Akira’s eyes widened in surprise and he stepped closer to the bars to get a better look at Goro.

“Do you not remember… what being in love feels like?”

“No… I don’t think I have… ‘been in’ love before.” Akira reached a hand through the bars, gently resting it on Goro’s cheek.

“Akechi… I…” He pulled Goro as close as he could to him, grabbing him into a tight embrace, “I know what you’ve said, but I can’t help but love you. I… love you more than anyone else I’ve ever met.”

“Akir-“ Goro was cut off as Akira cupped his hands around Goro’s face, pulling him into a short kiss. Akira quickly pulled away, stepping back from the bars, his eyes filled with emotion that Goro couldn’t even begin to identify.

“Do you understand how I feel now?” Goro flushed, quickly turning his back to the cell and leaning against the bars.

“I told you before… we can’t. Only bad things await attendants who fall in love with their wildcards.” Goro sank to the ground, covering his face with Le Grimoire. Why now? When they were so close… so close to the inmate’s rehabilitation. They couldn’t… Goro didn’t want to end up like Theodore and Elizabeth, he didn’t want to lose Akira.


	6. "He dreamt of Goro loving him"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is about pushing the limits of the romance getting saucy that I can write.... hehehehehehehhe

The scenery was always familiar, but the feeling wasn’t. More and more often, be in the attic of Leblanc or pressed up against a wall in the Velvet Room, he dreamt of Goro. Goro’s lips on his, his hands in Akira’s hair. He dreamt of Goro loving him. Goro being able to love him. And oh god, Akira had it bad. He loved Goro so much that it hurt sometimes.

“Kurusu…” He would moan out softly, softly stroking Akira’s cheek. He would want Akira, and Akira would want him. But that feeling was a foreign one to the uptight attendant. There was no way he could ever love Akira the way that Akira loved him. He wasn’t ‘allowed’ to. Akira wanted to tell him ‘fuck your rules, why do you follow such a twisted plan set down for you?’ but that was never going to happen. They would keep that wall of bars between them, and Akira would keep his feelings hidden inside his caged heart.


	7. Welcome to the Phantom Thieves Goro

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This snippet has extreme spoilers for Welcome to the Velvet Room, read at your own discretion

“Akira… what are you suggesting? Add a new member to the Thieves? That doesn’t sound like the smartest idea right now,” Makoto glanced worriedly at Akira, her hands fidgeting nervously in her lap, “we haven’t even met the guy. How trustworthy is he?” How **dare** she. How dare she suggest that Goro was anything less than trustworthy. His Goro was the person that he could trust most in this world and she…

“Makoto, I can personally vouch for him. I swear to you that you’ll never met anyone more worthy of our trust.” She sighed, glancing at the other thieves for verification. When they all nodded, she turned back to Akira, locking eyes with him.

“Very well, but I want to test his skills first.” Akira nearly smacked her. He had dueled with Goro, if anything, the attendant was stronger than Makoto herself.

“There’s no need to-“ Akira was cut off by the ringing of his cell phone and he frantically scrambled to answer it, not even bothering to check the caller ID.

“Inmate… you asked last night if I would mind coming to that dingy attic of yours. When do you want me to head over?” Ah… Goro. It was good to hear his voice, the way he actually sounded when he knew Akira wasn’t slumbering in the real world.

“Now’s good.”

“Now?! Ah… of course, I shall head over at once,” Within minutes of hanging up the phone, the attendant stumbled up the stairs, adjusting his hat with one hand while his other hand tightly gripped his book in that nervous way of his. Akira smiled softly at the sight of him. He always looked better bathed in the soft colours of the light in the real world than the garish blue light in the Velvet Room, “Kurusu… that was rather… untimely.”

“Sorry, were you busy?” Goro glared at him, setting his book down on the nearby table and leaning against it.

“No… I was just helping Margaret with some… urgent business,” Goro’s eyes darted around the attic before landing on the Phantom Thieves gathered around the small table, “I see the whole gang is here.”

“Akira…” Makoto started to speak up, but Akira cut her off with a glare, walking over to Goro and gently resting his hand on his shoulder.

“You said you wanted to join the Phantom Thieves. Are you absolutely sure?”

“Certain, I want to be able to help. But the way things are now… I’m nothing more than a burden on society,” Goro always said things like that. Maybe it was because of a lack of memories… but maybe it was something else. If joining the Phantom Thieves would help him figure out what he wanted out his life, then Akira had to let him, “and anyways… maybe I’ll be able to remember something if I hang out with people my age.”

“Very well then, welcome to the Phantom Thieves Goro.”


	8. Interrogation Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ummm... more spoilers for the actual fic, but i couldn't help myself. i had to write it

Akira cast his eyes towards the door as it creaked open. Just as according to plan. Kasumi -or rather, Sumire- Yoshizawa walked into the room, her gait as proud and confident as ever, with a guard right behind her.

“Senpai! Oh thank god you’re all right!” A fake excited smile for his safety played across her face as she ran over to him and pulled him into a tight hug. The guard glanced at her nervously, warning her to get away from Akira, “oh? You know what I think? I think you should disappear.” In a quick motion befitting of her gymnast instincts, she pulled the guard’s gun from his belt and fired it into his forehead, promptly killing him.

“Kasumi…” She gasped, turning back to Akira with that same fake smile still across her lips.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry senpai!” She feigned worry for him, but he knew better. Any second now, she was going to turn that gun on him, and he would be the one bleeding to death on the floor, “but I guess I shouldn’t be apologizing. After all… you’re next.” And then it was over. And then he awoke again, staring at the ceiling of his attic. From the beginning he had known; he had known it was a risky plan. And yet… they still went through with it. The Thieves celebrated quietly in the corner of the attic, congratulating each other on a job well done.

“I’m so glad everything turned out okay!” Makoto let out a sigh of relief, her hand tightly clenched in Haru’s. Haru smiled softly at her, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek. The Phantom Thieves celebrated a victory, but Akira didn’t feel like celebrating. Everything turned out ‘okay’? What about him? What about how he felt? Just because he was their leader didn’t mean that he was impenetrable. All he wanted to do right now was go home and fall into his own bed. He wanted to go home to Inaba and be comforted by someone who’d known him for years.

“Akira! Come celebrate dude!” Akira glared at Ryuji, instead pulling out his phone and typing in a familiar number. Right now, what he needed was a familiar voice and a comforting presence. As much as he loved his friends, he needed someone to care about **him** for once.

“Akira?” It was a relief to hear his dad’s voice, it felt calming after he had been away from home for so long, “you… let me get Yosuke.”

“Dad… I want to talk to you.”

“I… oh. Um… I don’t know what to say.” Akira nearly started crying. He wanted to go home, he wanted to go home more than anything. Who cared about the Phantom Thieves? He just wanted to go home and be with the people he called his family.

“You don’t need to say anything… I just…” And that was it all broke, the tears that Akira had held back for so long poured out and he sobbed quietly as the rest of the Thieves continued the celebrate. Did they even notice? Did they care?

“Akira… it’s okay. Everything will be fine.” Akira managed to nod stiffly and even though they were a hundred miles apart, his dad seemed to understand what he needed and promptly hung up the phone. Akira tossed it onto his bed, glancing back at his friends as they continued to celebrate.

“Aki! Come on!” Futaba gestured for him to join them, but he just shook his head, staying put in his chair in the corner. The small glanced worriedly at the other Thieves before setting down the cup she’d been drinking out of and heading to the corner to join him. She sat on the ground next to him and Akira reached out a hand, gently patting her tiny head. Everything turned out ‘okay’? No, not in the slightest, but with time, maybe it would be okay again.


	9. Confronting Yaldabaoth

“I can’t help you.” The Phantom Thieves looked over at Goro in shock as they stood in the deepest layer of Mementos, preparing for their fight with the Holy Grail.

“What are you talkin’ about?! Of course you can help us?!” Sakamoto glared at Goro, stomping his foot on the ground angrily.

“I can’t. That _thing_ is still technically my master… I am not allowed to defy it.” He gestured at where the grail sat, where Yaldabaoth waited for them to fight.

“Goro…” Akira’s voice was pained as he reached for Goro’s hand. The attendant wanted to slap him away, but he allowed Akira to take his hand anyway, “there are sometimes that rules are meant to be broken.” Rules… meant to broken… no, there weren’t any rules like that. But sometimes Goro felt like screaming, he felt like throwing a fit until someone told him he wasn’t allowed to. He wasn’t supposed to, but sometimes he felt like crying until someone noticed that he wasn’t okay.

“I… I can’t. You should know better…” He wanted to scream, he wanted to sob, but he couldn’t. Feelings weren’t…

“Goro! Come on, this is much your fight as it ours!” Akira was yelling now, something completely uncharacteristic of him.

“I can’t defy him! I’m sorry Joker, but I can’t!” Akira flinched as Goro raised his voice and Goro stumbled a few steps back, reaching for the door back to the Velvet Room, “I’ll see you again when this is all over… I’m sorry.” He practically fell through the door, collapsing onto the cold floor of the prison he had come to know. A small sob escaped his lips. He wanted to help… but what use would he be to them? Even with his memories, he was still held back. He was only a burden. So he had lied to them, told them that he couldn’t when he knew very well that he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos are love, comments are life. it gives me the energy i need to keep going  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/OwlHeart8)  
> [Fic Playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/45R6jCFd3HVWPQWhg8xd0h?si=RUmDdUTJTeq2tR0WJ4SQfQ)


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tw: small mention of death

Ann glanced up from scrolling on her phone, recognizing Akira’s familiar black mop as he walked by the window of the shop she was browsing. He was with another boy, one with silver shoulder length hair, and Akira was… laughing. She had never seen him laugh like that before, Akira hardly ever smiled. He always acted like life was such a burden on him. Ann was happy that he finally had someone he could laugh like that with, but faltered as she realized that she knew who that silver haired boy was. She had known him, they had been… she wouldn’t say that they had been friends, but they were certainly close acquaintances. They had met regularly -he would say that it just coincidence, but Ann knew better, he was always waiting to see her- and they had become… close. And then one day, he just disappeared. Of course, Ann wasn’t naïve. She knew why he had disappeared; she knew what had happened to Goro Akechi. As did most of the country. Yet… here he was, standing right on the other side of the window, laughing with Akira like it was completely normal that he was there. And she knew what she had to do. She had always wished that she could have had a chance to say goodbye. She ran out of the store, sliding to a stop right in front of Akira.

“Hey Aki! Funny running into you here!” She put on her sweetest voice, voice gushing with fake adoration.

“Ann.” His greeting was stiff and bored as he instantly reverted to that same miserable mask he adopted around everyone.

“I didn’t know that you two knew each other. Remember me Goro?” She turned to Goro; a smile plastered on to hide the fact that she was about to cry.

“I… if I may… who might you be?” Ann faltered, right… of course he wouldn’t remember her. But she had to keep pushing on, this matter had been important to her for years. She would never give up; she had promised herself that long ago.

“Makes sense. We only shared a table at a café a few times, but we really hit it off. I guess we weren’t exactly _friends_ but it always felt nice to talk to you. I’ve been super concerned about you, the last time I saw you, you looked half dead. I thought you were going to collapse right then and there.” Goro darted his eyes around nervously, laughing softly.

“Well, that might be because I **am** dead.” Ann bit her lip, trying to hold back her laughter. God that was the funniest shit that she had heard in a while, but considering the circumstances… holy _fuck_. It was almost too much to handle for her, and then there was Akira, barely able to breath from how hard he was laughing. She wanted to yell at him, scream at him for being insensitive. Didn’t he know what had happened? Didn’t he know how much it had hurt her? Of course he didn’t… he had no way of knowing. Why did she always talk about getting stronger and Shiho when they hung out? This was the shit that she should have been talking about. This had been her passion for years; she had been obsessed since that incident. At this point, the silence between the three of them was deafening. Ann didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. Goro glanced between the hysterical Akira and Ann, giving them both confused looks. Ann sighed, managing to compose herself.

“Who do you think you are Goro Akechi?” Goro looked at her with shocked eyes, clutching the strange book that he was holding close to his chest.

“I… don’t know. Forgive me, but I don’t know anything about myself. If you want answers, you’ll have to get them from somebody else.” Ann didn’t need answers about who he was, she already knew all that stuff and anything she didn’t know, she could easily find on a long dead forum. What she wanted to know was why. Of course, she didn’t expect him to have the answer to that question either. Who would remember their own death? Who would want to?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos are love, comments are life. it gives me the energy i need to keep going  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/OwlHeart8)  
> [Fic Playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/45R6jCFd3HVWPQWhg8xd0h?si=RUmDdUTJTeq2tR0WJ4SQfQ)


	11. Timeline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is solely for showing off the timeline that i have made

[Timeline](https://1drv.ms/u/s!AidcP58djxJLgtovUkuilekBTwL5Tw?e=0yQhsS)


End file.
